FILE This undated file photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Zahra Clare Baker, a 10 year-old disable North Carolina girl who was reported missing in October 2010 and whose remains police later found in different locations in western North Carolina. Her stepmother, Elisa Baker, on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011 pleaded guilty to murdering the girl. (AP Photo/FBI)

LENOIR, N.C. — The father of a 10-year-old disabled girl who was murdered by her stepmother in western North Carolina is back in his native Australia, despite facing unresolved criminal charges in the United States.

Attorney Shell Pearce said Monday that his client, Adam Baker, left the country roughly two weeks ago at the behest of federal immigration officials, bringing the remains of his daughter, Zahra, with him for burial in Australia. However, Vincent Picard, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an email Monday that Baker had "voluntarily departed" the U.S., which Pearce disputed.

"He didn't have a choice in the matter," Pearce said. "This was not a surprise for us. We knew this was coming."

Adam Baker moved to the state in 2008 after marrying a North Carolina woman he met online.

In October 2010, Baker and his wife, Elisa, reported that Zahra, who had a prosthetic leg and hearing aids after a battle with cancer, was missing from their home in Hickory. The story that Zahra had been kidnapped quickly fell apart, and Elisa Baker was jailed on a charge of interfering with a police investigation.

Police eventually found some of Zahra's remains, although they never located her head. They concluded she had been dismembered after dying of causes that are still undetermined.